Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"In May, 1833, Nancy Mercer was stricken with paralysis while walk- ing in her flower garden and lingered just one year, never being able to utter a word or walk a step, and on the following May passed away, when all nature was beautiful. They covered her grave with the flowers from her own garden, those which she had so tenderly cared for. Some of these flowers are to be seen now in the garden tended by the gentle Sisters of St. Joseph, who walk where the feet of Mrs. Mercer once trod. Mr. Mer- cer's letters about her, to be found in 'Mallary's History,' are truly touching.

"Mr. Mercer died September the 6th, 1841, near Indian Springs, while- on a visit to a friend. He was buried at Penfield."

The Hills and Two of Georgia's most distinguished and honored fam- the Popes. ilies were planted in Wilkes at the close of the Revolu- tion : the Hills and the Popes. These families have frequently intermarried; and there is scarcely a Southern State in which they are not today represented. Abraham Hill settled in Wilkes County, Ga., in 1780 or 1781. By tradition he was of Scotch-Irish extraction. His grandparents removed from Nansemond County, Virginia, to Chowan, now Gates County, North Carolina, in 1770; and here he was born in 1730. There were four brothers, Abraham, Henry, Isaac and Theophilus. Abraham Hill, in 1756, married Christian Walton, a daughter of Thomas Walton, who, in 1757, was a member from Chowan County in the North Carolina General Assembly. During the latter part of the seventeen-sixties he settled in what was afterwards Wake County, and became a Justice of the Peace and member of the first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for Wake County, in 1771. He was re-elected to this office in December, 1778, by the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, and there is strong presumptive evidence that he had served in this capacity during the inter- mediate period. On removing to Wilkes County, Ga., at the time above mentioned, he acquired lands on both sides of Long Creek, about three.

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miles above its confluence with Dry Fork and about twenty miles north- west of Washington.

His home must have been very near the Indian line. For, in 1790 the Cherokee border was only twenty miles west of Washington. During this same year it was removed twenty miles further west, but there was still little security, either to life or to property, in this exposed neighborhood. Abraham Hill died in 1792; his wife in 1808. Here they lie buried on the old estate. In the same area sleeps their son, Thomas, and his wife, Sarah McGhee, and their grandson, James A. Hill, and his wife, Amelia Hill. These two last were first cousins. In the late seventeen-eighties Abraham Hill erected a large, commodious frame homestead, esteemed in those days as truly palatial. It was probably the first plastered house in this part of Georgia. Completed in 1790, it remained practically unaltered as late as the eighteen-seventies, when it passed into alien hands.

Burwell, Willis, John, Henry Augustine, and Wiley Pope, five brothers, were born in North Carolina. Burwell, the eldest, was born in 1751 and was only twelve years old when his father died. He married in 1792 Priscilla Wootten, a sister of Thomas Wootten, a pioneer immigrant to Wilkes; at some during the Revolution he was a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for Wake County, N. C., and was a member of the Provincial Congress of North "Carolina at Halifax, in 1781-1782. He removed to Wilkes County, Ga., probably in 1787, as in July of that year he obtained from the State 1,300 .acres of land in Wilkes. He was a member of the State Senate from Oglethorpe County, in 1794-1795, and a member from the same county in the Constitutional Convention of 1798. He strenuously opposed and voted against the Yazoo Fraud, and with indignation and wrath repulsed and denounced a tentative step to bribe him. His death occurred in 1800. At this time he was in his forty-ninth year. His wife died in 1806. Both are buried at the old homestead near Pope's Chapel, in Ogle- thorpe County, Ga.

Besides four daughters, Abraham and Christian (Walton) Hill had -eight sons, only one of whom failed to reach adult years. Burwell and Priscilla (Wootten) Pope had three sons and four daughters. Now begins the intermarriage of these families. Three of Abraham Hill's sons mar- ried daughters of Burwell Pope, while two of his daughters married Bur- well Pope's brothers, viz., Henry Augustus and Wiley. It seems that the men of the latter family made reprisals for the capture of their sisters by the men of the former, or, to quote the late Judge Pope Barrow, "the Hills and the Popes intermarried backwards and forwards, right and left."

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Two of Abraham Hill's sons married daughters, and two of his grand- daughters married sons, of Micajah MeGehee. One son married a daugh- ter of Benjamin Andrew, of Liberty County, Ga., a member of the Council of Safety during the Revolution, and an uncle of Bishop Andrew. Another son married Miss Polly Jordan. One daughter married Josiah Jordan, and another Benjamin Blake. Burwell Pope's fourth daughter married a Holmes, His eldest son died unmarried. One married Miss Sallie Davis, and Burwell, Jr., married Sallie K. Strong. This Burwell was commissioned a brigadier-general in 1828, and commanded a brigade in the Florida In- dian War. He died in Athens in 1840. Henry Augustine Pope, by his first wife, had only one daughter and a son, Middleton, to reach mature years. From this son, who married Lucy Lumpkin, are descended the Barrows of Athens. Henry Augustine Pope, by his second wife, had a daughter and two sons. One of the latter was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Toombs, sister of Hon. Robert Toombs, and his second wife, Miss Addie Davis. Colonel Wiley and Polly (Hill) Pope had three sons' and a daughter. The latter married a Huling. One son married a Callaway, and their son Wiley became the father of 22 children, only five of whom reached mature years. Another son died at Scull Shoals, on the Oconee River, while a third son, Wiley Hill Pope, died near Independence, in Wilkes County, in 1868, leaving two sons who lived with their mother in Coweta, or Meriwether, County, near Hogansville. John Pope married a Miss Smith, and died in 1821, leaving six daughters and two sons.

Henry Hill, a brother of Abraham, married Sarah Cotten. They came from North Carolina to Wilkes about 1787. He died about 1800, and his wife in 1812-1814. They had four sons, viz., John, Abraham, Theophilus and Henry-these names are the same as those of the four sons of Abraham. There were also four daughters, one of whom married Colonel William Johnson, for many years the sheriff of Wilkes. Another married a Josey, and from them is descended Mrs. J. C. C. Black, of Augusta. Another married Josiah Woods, and a fourth daughter married Henry Pope.

Burwell Pope Hill and Lodowick Meriwether Hill, sons of Wiley, and grandsons of Abraham Hill, married daughters of Colonel William Johnson, their second cousins. After Burwell Hill's death, his widow married Rev. William D. Martin, of Meriwether County, Ga. She was the grand- mother of Justice Warner Hill, Mrs. Justice Samuel Atkinson, Governor John M. Slaton and Hon. W. M. Slaton, Superintendent of the Public Schools of Atlanta. The wife of Judge Benjamin H. Hill is a granddaughter of Colonel Lodowick Meriwether Hill.

Isaac Hill, a brother of Abraham, came from North Carolina to Wilkes about 1787, but later in life, resided either in Clarke or in Franklin.

Abraham Hill's progeny, though not as numerous as the stars of heaven, yet are sufficient in numbers to attest the appropriateness of his name, scripturally defined as "the father of a great multitude." The descend- ants of the Hills, Popes, and McGehees, will be found in almost every section of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. Impelled by the ad-

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venturous spirit of the Anglo-Saxon, so strikingly manifested in their forefathers, whenever the population became dense or crowded or the soil failed to respond in abundant fruitfulness to their labors, they severed all family and local ties and migrated westward. They wanted broader acres, with greater opportunities for acquiring wealth and for obtaining advancement in professional and political life. To this day, they are a sturdy, industrious, law-abiding, peace-loving and God-fearing people. They have striven arduously to acquire not only a competence but a liberal supply of worldly goods, the possession of which gives power, influence, and the ability to do good. They are proud of their ancestry and love their kindred, but their neighbor no less. They illustrate and exemplify in their lives an abiding faith in the proverb that "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." In agricultural, commercial, and industrial lines, many have be- come wealthy; while not a few have won distinction in political and professional life and have filled with credit to themselves and with profit to their country, positions of great honor and trust.

Historic Homes of Wilkes. Eleven miles northwest of Washington, on the sonth side of the road to Danielsville, stood the old home of Gen. John Clark, afterwards' Governor of Georgia. Gen. Clark was for years one of the most commanding characters in the early history of the State. On one of the tombs in the old burial-ground is lettered this inscription: "George Walton Clark, son of John and Nancy Clark, born January 11, 1797; died, October 27, 1798." Here, on the night preceding the battle of Kettle Creek, the Revolutionary troops . were encamped. In the year 1800, this fine old estate became the property of Col. Wiley Hill. The original building was a large, commodious frame structure, of the best type then prevalent, but in the eighteen-fifties, after the death of Mrs. Hill, it became the property of their youngest daughter. Mrs. William M. Jordan. She razed the old building and erected in its stead what was probably the handsomest home in the county, but, unfor- tunately, within a year after its completion, this magnificent dwelling was destroyed by fire. It was replaced by a roomy cottage, but this has since been removed and there now remains nothing except the burial-ground to mark the site. Col. Wiley Hill, his wife, and a number of their family are here interred.

The homestead of Col. Lodowick Meriwether Hill, one of the most stately, imposing, and beautiful in the county, is situated fifteen miles northwest of Washington on the road to Danielsville and one and a half miles from the line of Oglethorpe. It was originally a large two-story frame building, erected during the first quarter of the last century, with eleven rooms, and a wide veranda. In the eighteen-fifties, it was remod- eled on the Colonial style, with fourteen rooms, four of which were 20 by

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

20 feet each. There were wide halls running through from east to west, opening upon wide porches, and still wider halls running north and south from the front to the center of the building; besides a wide, long colonnade, with massive fluted columns, three feet in diameter, supporting the para- pet roof. The upper front hall opened upon a balcony. This handsome old home is still in a perfect state of preservation and, save an addition of two rooms in the rear, is just as it was in the fifties. The various buildings on the place, such as barns, gin houses, etc., were large and imposing. All were substantially built and kept in splendid repair. There were so many of them that the place appeared more like a town than a country-seat. Mr. A. P. Anthony, who married Miss Lucy Hill, is the present owner and occupant.

The homestead of Col. Wiley Pope Hill is situated eight miles north- west of Washington on the Danielsville road. It is a large two-story frame building with a wide veranda. It stands' in a beautiful grove of forest trees and, save an addition of some two or more rooms made in re- cent years, looks just as it did when built. His widow, Mrs. Jane (Austin) Hill, died last year in her eighty-ninth year. One daughter and two sons now own and occupy the old homestead.

Washington! There is not a town in the State around whose majestic old homes there clusters more of architectural beauty, of social charm, of intellectual culture, or of historic renown. Most of these homes are built on the stately pattern peculiar to the spacious days of the old South; and while the spirit of modern enterprise is everywhere apparent in this wideawake community it is still fragrant with the memories of a gentler time. "Haywood, " the splendid old home of Judge Garnett Andrews, was built in 1798, by Gilbert Hay, Esq., a gentleman of wealth, well known to the people of the State a hundred years ago. He was John Clark's second, in his famous duel with William H. Crawford. "Hay- wood "' is today owned by Mrs. T. M. Green, a daughter of Judge Andrews. The home of Gen. Toombs is still one of the chief centers of attraction in Washington. This fine old Colonial mansion was built by Dr. Joel Abbott, in 1815. It was subsequently remodeled by Gen. Toombs, who here, during the ante-bellum period, dispensed a hospitality characteristic of this princely Georgian. Col. F. H. Colley, who married Miss Kate Toombs, a niece of the General, now owns and occupies the mansion. The Alexander home, built by Felix Gilbert, great grandfather of Mr. Charles Alexander, is now the home of the Misses Alexander. It dates back to the year 1808. In the rear of this home stands the famous Presbyterian poplar, one of the largest trees in the State. The handsome old Lane home was built in 1798. It was the old home of Garland Wingfield, and was moved from Walnut Hill, where the Rev. John Springer taught his noted school. This property now belongs to Misses Annie and Emmie

MOUNT PLEASANT: The Old Home of the Talbots, Near Washington, Ga.

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Lane, great nieces of Garland Wingfield. The Cleveland house, built by Albert Semmes, and owned by A. Cleveland, is now the property of J. T. Lindsay. The Jesse House, built as a Methodist parsonage, in 1815, was the home of the Semmes family for years. It is now owned by Col. J. M. Pitner. The Tupper home, built in 1804, by Albert Semmes, was re- modeled in after years by the Rev. H. A. Tupper, D. D., who occupied it for some time. It is now the home of Mr. E. A. Barnett, a former mayor of Washington. The old Fielding place, built in 1819, on a lot bought in 1794, for years the home of Dr. Fielding Ficklin. It is now owned by Dr. Lynden. The Alexander Pope place, built in 1814 and afterwards remodeled by Mr. Pope, is now the home of Dr. Simpson. The Gabriel Toombs place, built by the father of Gabriel Toombs, was once the home of Merrell Callaway, father of James Callaway, Esq., of Macon. It is now owned by Mr. Augustus Toombs.

Mt. Pleasant: The In Volume I of this work will be found a brief Old Talbot Home. reference to this historic old landmark, a part of which is still standing, near Smyrna church, on the old road to Lincolnton. While it reaches back to the days of John Talbot, the Virginia immigrant, and was also the home of Matthew Talbot, an honored chief-magistrate of Georgia, it was known for years prior to the Civil War, as the home of Thomas Talbot, an elder brother of the Governor. This revered old patriarch lived to cele- brate his eighty-sixth birthday. Distinguished for his great piety there is a current anecdote which will illustrate his reputation in this respect. It was customary, in the early days, to hold court near the cross-roads. One day the Bible was missing, and there was nothing on which to swear witnesses. Whereupon a man walked up to Thomas Talbot, and, slapping him on the shoulder, said: "Swear by Talbot, he's next to the Bible."

Thomas Talbot's father, John Talbot, was the wealthiest land-owner in Wilkes. Just after the Revolution, or just before-there is some doubt on ,this point-he acquired a large body of land in this part of the State, containing some 50,000 acres. He settled on these lands in 1783. John Talbot served in the Legislature and was also a delegate to the Convention in Augusta, called to ratify the Federal Constitution. He gave five acres of land to Smyrna church, part of it to be used as a burial-ground; and here, within a walled enclosure, just to the rear of the church, this revered old pioneer today sleeps. Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, some- time in the seventeen-nineties, lived on a small farm of eighty acres, ad- joining Mr. Talbot's plantation, on which he set up one of his gins- probably the first ever erected. Later, the old gin house became appur- tenant to the Talbot estate .* But for years rice and tobacco were the chief crops raised in Georgia, especially by the Virginia planters.

*See Vol. I, p. 1052.

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GEORGIA 'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Major-General W. H. T. Walker, a gallant Confederate officer, who lost his life in the battle of Atlanta, on July 22, 1864, was a descendant of Thomas Talbot. Madam Octavia Walton LeVert, perhaps the most celebrated Southern woman of her day, belonged to this same family connection. Mrs. Elizabeth Talbot Belt, the last member of the Talbot family born at Mount Pleasant-the old Talbot home in Wilkes-is now living in her eighty-sixth year at Millen, Ga. She is a gentle lady of rare intellectual gifts, with a vigor of mind marvelous for her years; and she is never more delightfully reminiscent than in telling of her girlhood days in Wilkes. Mrs. Belt is connected also with the famous Washington family of Virginia, as the following record made in her grandfather's Bible will attest :

"Thomas Talbot and Elizabeth Creswell, married Angust 22, 1790, Laurens District, S. C., by the Rev. John Springer. Elizabeth Creswell was the only daughter of Mary Garlington and the Rev. James Creswell. Mary Garlington was the grand-daughter of Annie Ball, fourth daughter of Col. Richard Ball, and half-sister of Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington. "

WILKINSON

Irwinton. In 1905 Wilkinson County was organized ont of a part of the lands acquired from the Creek Indians, under the treaty at Fort Wilkinson, and was named for General James Wilkinson, of Revolutionary fame, one of the commissioners on the part of the United States to treat with the Creeks, at Fort Wilkinson. The town was incorporated by an Act approved December 4, 1816, with the following-named commissioners, to-wit .: Solomon Worrell, David Roland, Adam Hunter, Peter McArthur and William Beck.1 When the town was re- incorporated in 1854, the commissioners named at this time were : Elbert J. Gilbert, Nathaniel A. Carswell, Will- iam Taylor, Wade F. Sanford and William O. Beall.2 During this same year a charter was granted for the Talmage Normal Institute, with the following board of trustees : Green B. Burney, Thomas N. Beall, William Fisher, Eleazer Cumming, E. J. Gilbert, N. C. Hughes,

1 Lamar's Compendium, p. 1024.

2 Acts, 1853-1854, p. 254.

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WORTH

Leroy Fleetwood, F. D. Ross, James Jackson, Joel Deese, R. L. Story, R. I. Cochran, N. A. Carswell and William Taylor.1 Some of the early representatives of Irwin County in the General Assembly were-Senators: John Ball, Robert Jackson, John Hatcher, William Beck, Samuel Beall, Daniel M. Hall, W. G. Little and Joel Rivers; Representatives: John T. Fairchilds, Matthew Carswell, Daniel Hicks, Charles Culpepper, Morton N. Burch, Osborn Higgins, Benjamin Mitchell, Benjamin Exum, James Neal, Joel Rivers, William G. Little and John Hatcher.

WORTH

Sylvester. On December 20, 1853, portions of two older counties, Dooly and Irwin, were organized into a new county called Worth, in honor of a distin- guished officer of the Mexican War, General William J. Worth, a son-in-law of General Zachary Taylor. This same Act authorized the Inferior Court judges to locate a site for public buildings and to make a purchase of whatever land was necessary, and out of this legislation grew the present town of Sylvester, one of the most en- terprising communities of South Georgia. Its charter of incorporation was granted December 21, 1898, with W. H. McPhane as mayor and Messrs. C. W. Hilhouse,2 W. A. Jones, J. G. Polhill and W. L. Sikes as councilmen. Sylvester's present public school system was established in 1900. Some of the pioneers who represented Worth County in the Legislature were: Daniel Henderson. M. Simmons, G. G. Ford, Royal R. Jenkins, W. J. Ford, .J. M. Summer, David H. Champion and D. McClellan.

1 Acts, 1853-1854, p. 146.

2 Acts, 1898, p. 269.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Pindartown. On the banks of the Flint River, called by the Indians "Thronateeska, " has been located the site of an old Indian village, known as Pindartown. In after years there was a white settlement of some importance at this place. Pindartown was for a long time the only post-office in this part of the State, and when Newton and Palmyra arose it was for years a recognized rival of these towns. It was even the post-office for Albany, until 1836, when the latter town received its first charter. Its location at the head of navigation on the Flint gave it fine prospects at one time, but with the rise of Albany, its glories began to fade. There are numerous local traditions to the effect that Oglethorpe himself here made a treaty with the Indians.

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ADDENDUM

WHITFIELD

History of Dalton. The city of Dalton, formerly Cross Plains, was incorporated in 1847. Captain Edward White, a Northern man, was at the head of a syndicate who bought the land on which the city was built.

In selecting the location, he planned for a great city, surveying the streets, and setting aside sites for parks, school houses, churches and public buildings. Dalton's three principal streets are a mile in length by a hundred feet in width. As there was no large town between Knox- ville, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., he believed that Dalton would become the metropolis of North Georgia. At that time Ross' Station (Chatta- nooga) and Marthasville (Atlanta) were only clusters of cabins.

Captain White was a man of great public spirit and donated many sites for public buildings to the city.

Associated with him in the syndicate were a number of men promi- nently identified with the building of the town. Many of the Dalton streets were named for these men. The main business street was named for Colonel John Hamilton, and the beautiful residence street, Thornton Avenue, was named for Colonel Mark Thornton; Pentz Street was named for Mr. Frederick Pentz, and Morris Street for James and Franklin B. Morris.

The city was named for the wife of Captain White, whose maiden name was Miss Emma Dalton. She was a daughter of General Tristram Dalton, who was at one time speaker of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts.

Until the beginning of the war, Captain Whites' dream of a great future for Dalton seemed about to be realized, for it was a busy, prosper- ous place, with handsome churches and business houses, two banks, three hotels and many beautiful homes, with a cultured, refined people, of whom their descendants are justly proud.

The war changed all this, and Dalton was left in ashes, with only a few houses standing, to show where the town had once been. One of the few homes that was not burned was the home of Captain White. It was torn down a few years ago, and a handsome residence erected ou the site by Mr. Lynn Denton.

Many of the early settlers were from South Carolina, Virginia and South Georgia.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIAALS AND LEGENDS

The first Mayor was A. E. Blount, and the one serving during the time of the war was Judge Elbert Sevier Byrd.

The first Ordinary of the county was William Gordon. The first Sheriff was Captain Fred Cox, and the first Clerk of the Court was John Anderson, and the first will probated was that of Thomas Wylie.

In 1844 a German colony, under the leadership of Count Frederick Charles, settled in North Dalton. Some of the names of men comprising this colony were: Peter and Adam Kriescher, Herman and Augustus Yeager, A. Lippman, Charles Knorr, A. Bolander, Henry Rauchenberg, Augustus Guntz, Adam Pfanakhche, John Setzefant and numbers of others.

A list of pioneer citizens of Whitfield County:#

Captain Ed White

Dr. Waugh

Franklin B. Morris

Frank Jackson

Major James Morris

Robert O'Neill 1

Dr. F. T. Black

John Hill

Thomas Cook

Bob Hill

Dr. John Harris

Ralph Ellison

John Anderson

John Beaty

Garland Jefferson

Judge Dawson Walker

C. C. McCrary

Wiley Farnsworth

Wick Earnest

Anderson Farnsworth

Charles Adams Charles Barry

John Henry King

Dr. J. Bailey

Rev. H. C. Carter

.Jabez Pitman

C. B. Welborn

R. S. Rushton

Dickson Taliaferro

James Buchanan

James Longly

Jack Oliver

Captain Fred Cox

Prof. John Tyler

Judge Jesse Freeman

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1274

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274